Single woman shares her ‘toxic trait’ when online dating - and she’s not the only one

One single woman has shared her "toxic trait" when online dating - and thousands of Aussie women admit to the same thing. Photo / Getty Images

A single woman has candidly confessed to her own “toxic trait” when it comes to swiping on dating apps, reports Daily Mail.

Josephine Hellgren, who lives in Sydney, uses popular dating platform Hinge to meet and chat with prospective suitors.

However, every time a potential date sends her a “like”, Hellgren spends a few minutes viewing their profile and then goes back to look at her own profile for even longer.

And it seems she’s not the only one, with multiple other women admitting that they too spend more time looking at themselves than others when it comes to dating online.

“My toxic trait is that every time someone sends me a like on Hinge, I look at their profile for two minutes then look at my own for the next 20 to see what it’s like from their POV [point of view],” Hellgren wrote on her TikTok clip.

Doja Cat’s song Attention plays in the background of the five-second video and the lyrics “Look at me, look at me, you lookin’?” can be heard.

Hellgren then looks at the camera and flashes her teeth before the video ends.

Despite the dating trend being labelled as “toxic”, other women have also said they do it frequently.

“OMG I love staring at mine, like who is she?” one wrote in the comments, with another admitting: “I thought I was the only one.”

“Better go check mine,” another wrote.

What’s more, there is actually psychology behind the trend. The reason thousands of people view their own profiles is due to the phenomenon called “looking glass theory”.

Essentially, the rise of social media has given the public a platform to "perform" on and show off a version of themselves to the audience. Photo / Getty Images

Some individuals obsess over their own Instagram stories, rewatching the clips over and over again.

Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley told Self, Symbols, & Society says that people do this to see how they are perceived by others in order to develop their own concept of self.

The age of social media has essentially given people a platform to “perform” on and display a certain version of themselves to their audience.

However, the “performer” simultaneously acts as an audience member who analyses themselves constantly.